After eight years on the job, Manitoba citizenship Judge Suzanne Carriere has had her share of memorable moments, and she’s been keeping track of all of them.
Carriere, who is Canada’s first Métis citizenship judge, has now presided over 2,500 citizenship ceremonies, swearing in close to 200,000 new Canadians.
It’s a milestone she feels lucky to have reached, Carriere told guest host Margaux Watt in a Tuesday interview with CBC Manitoba’s Information Radio.
“It’s just a perfect moment to stop and reflect on having the best job in the world,” Carriere said. “I get to swear in Canadian citizens all the time. It’s such an important moment in people’s lives and so, for me, it’s a real honour and a privilege to be part of that moment.”
Carriere started keeping track of the ceremonies she presided over after her first ceremony on Canada Day in 2018.
She says she had a feeling she would want to know how many people she had sworn in down the road, and so she started a spreadsheet.
“That spreadsheet is now one of my most prized possessions, and as you can imagine it runs many, many pages,” Carriere said.
“It’s fantastic — I can look up any date and see if I presided a ceremony that day, how many people I swore in, if there were any special guests or if anything interesting happened.”
Some ceremonies stand out — like one where two men from Iran got engaged after being sworn in as Canadian citizens — but every one is special, said Carriere.
“You can see on people’s faces just how important it is,” she said.
“It’s just a huge accomplishment for them — the end of a long, long journey to come to Canada and settle in a new country. You can see the joy and relief on people’s faces.”
Carriere has made an impression on some of the people she’s sworn in, too.
Nataly Ponce said when she saw Carriere preside at her friend’s citizenship ceremony, she knew she wanted the judge to preside over her own ceremony one day.
“I was in awe of how she makes it so special for everyone. You can see how passionate she is,” said Ponce, who was sworn in as a Canadian citizen by Carriere last year.
After seeing her friend’s swearing-in ceremony, Ponce said she and Carriere worked on projects together and became friends, so she was thrilled when Carriere did, in fact, preside over her citizenship ceremony.
Nataly Ponce was sworn in as a Canadian citizen by Carriere last year. (CBC)
“It was extra special,” said Ponce. “When you’re an immigrant and you get to that point, it feels like a huge milestone. It feels like the closure of a long process.”
After meeting so many new Canadians, Carriere said she finds it disheartening when she hears anti-immigration rhetoric.
“Anyone who would come to a citizenship ceremony would feel so inspired by the journeys of everyone becoming a Canadian citizen,” she said.
“These are not people coming to Canada to take anything away from Canadians — these are people who are contributing in such significant ways to our communities, to our city, to our province, to our country, and they bring so much with them,” said Carriere.
“They make Canada so much better.”
